Quick, before I wrap 'em

I finally did take a picture of my finished coasters for Mr Mike. Here they are with the cute tea pot I got with my Birthday money from Dad. Bobby gave me a nice Chinese style cup to go with it from the international market. A fine tableau if I do say so myself. I gave them to him last night and he seemed pleased - yet rather embarrassed by the attention. I had added two coasters from another knitter who needed a box and made sure he knew that. Holly Anne brought in several from others in the group. He opened it in private and thanked me later.

Why hasn't anyone told me how hard it is to part with the stuff I make? I've been knitting all these gifts and gosh darn it, I want to keep 'em around for awhile and admire them. You know, pat myself on my widdle back. It's not that they're so fantastic or intricate, but I'm not a fast knitter. I sweat over these things.( okay, wipe that from your visual banks right now) I've been such a casual knitter until the last six weeks or so and have turned out so much nice stuff, I want someone to notice. Well, besides my husband who thinks I'm amazing and sings "My wife can knit a thing" and makes me grin every night. Oh, and my "support group" on Thursday nights at K1P2. They've only seen me knit straight stockinette or garter (due to the the distraction factor) and seem truly impressed with what I can accomplish at home now. Or gee, lots of people who see me carrying my projects around in their clear vinyl bags want to see what I'm working on and comment they could never do something that hard. Oh, and my cousin Laurie who promises to take a picture of her baby next Halloween in my "pumpkin hat". Hmmm . . . guess I'm not so praise deprived after all. Think of all the ooohs and ahhhs when folks open their gifts this year. I bet there will even be a few disappointed mumbles of "Where's mine?"

Better start wrapping.

Topping!

So. We're watching the Ravens game and I'm discovering what women all over the country should know. Knitting was made for football. Don't get me wrong, I love the Ravens (and the Orioles) but I found myself reading the mail, playing on the computer etc... until knitting. Knitting keeps me there by my husband's side, enjoying the game, commenting on the plays... you get it. But today I started a new project for Mr Mike, the owner of the shop where I knit on Thursdays. I have to turn the piece around and "knit backwards" so to speak every few stitches. It was intense for about 30 minutes 'till I got the hang of it. Suddenly Bobby starts yelling "TOPPING!", TOPPING!", "TOPPING!". I turned to look at him with eyes full of love, ready to care for him at the booby hatch. "What are you talking about?" sez I. "Touchdown!" he says gleefully, pointing at the screen. ::blink blink:: I was still clueless and clutched my knitting for comfort. "Pepperoni!" was next, and the light bulb began to flicker. There on the screen, the Ravens were celebrating a touchdown.

And so it went. A free topping on our pizza from Papa John's for every touchdown on Monday. Double if we win. We live in that in-between land between Baltimore and Washington. Thus, Papa John's offers their deal to both the Ravens and Redskins fans in our area. Ahhhhhh... life is good. And Monday? Pepperoni, Sausage, Mushroom and Olives.

Thanks Ravens.

::Back to our regularly scheduled blog::

I realized Thursday that I needed four coasters for our host on Thursdays. I had already felted one for him, and made another, but when I saw someone else's perfectly matched set . . . I needed to get busy. I may still decide to give him the mismatched assortment. After all, there will be lots (I hope) of different styles and colors from K1P2. I wanted to be unique. This pattern was on Dishcloth Boutique and I bookmarked it way back when we first decided on coasters for our gift. I was intimidated, but still hopeful. Since my recent triumphs in dpn, felting, Fair Isle and Cables (to name a few) I felt emboldened. I got out the cotton that my husband brought home to me one day when I was feeling low. I cast on 8 stitches.


I gotta admit, the pattern really frightened me when halfway across a row it said

turn (leaving 4 unworked stitches on left needle)

But I blindly followed the superior knowledge of Ms.Tejada and paying no heed to the roars and grunts on the screen, I had my first of 16 teardrop spokes. After sufficient praise from the husband (and the Pepperoni incident) I struggled to duplicate this feat. Something about starting on the wrong side threw me. But I am(Ahem!)a methodical knitter.




I tinked it back to the first teardrop and began the second again. Every time I finished a new spoke it . . .it . . . it looked just like the picture! I had to get the camera before I went any further.

The Felt and I

See, I started this oven mitt as a project in one of my Stitches East classes. Since I'm a sloooow knitter, I made a miniature and just recently completed the full-sized project. I learned how to use dpn, create a gusset for the thumb while using two stitch markers, transfer to a stitch holder, increase and decrease for mirrored slants, bind off with three needles, pick up stitches and finally (drumroll please) FELT.

• Before 12.5 x 9.5 inches
• After 9.75 x 6.75 inches

My secret to success?? I turned up the hot water tank 30 minutes prior and ran the tap at the sink in the bathroom past the washer to bring the hottest water to the load. I used a zippered pillow case, two shoes and a pair of Bobby's jeans with some Tide and Oxyclean. I kept the water level low. I heard from everyone how you had to wash several times so I automatically washed twice before checking. If anything, I believe I should have washed only once with my secret (shhhhhh!) method ‘cause the oven mitt is too small to give to my husband now. Oh well, next time it's once and done. It was even a little over felted and required a bit of separating. I used a big 'ol 15 wooden needle and scraped along the inside of the matted fold with the point. Sometimes I slid the point under the stretched fibers and worked them free.

With the left over yarn, I made a cute coaster based on a pattern from Frugal Knitting Haus which recycles an old CD. The original pattern wasn't intended for felting and uses plain worsted weight yarn while I used Lambs Pride bulky, but I thought the modification would work. Oh I am a clever girl. I need to email them with my results.

• Prefelting 5.5"
• Postfelting 4.75"

It looks like a snowflake and lays nice and flat. I took both projects to show off at K1P2 on Thursday and got many oohs and aahs. I also picked up a cute little sweater shaver this weekend to trim some of the fuzz - especially for the oven mitt which had been frogged and re-knit. I am a genius, it tamed those Albert Einstein eyebrows in no time!

I now feel I can put the felting notch in my knitting belt. What's next? I wonders does I.